Stewed Prunes
Ingredients
Directions
Wash the prunes carefully, one by one.
In a stew pan, combine 1½ pints of cold water for each pint of prunes.
Cook very slowly on the back of the stove, allowing them to simmer for 2½ hours.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Prunes
- Provide the main fruit, which softens and releases sweetness and color as they cook.
- Cold water
- Provides the liquid that softens the prunes and forms the stewing syrup.
The step that matters
Cooking very slowly on the back of the stove. A gentle, low simmer softens the fruit's cell walls evenly while keeping the skins intact. Higher heat would make the skins split and the prunes break apart and turn mushy.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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